It has come as a complete surprise to me how much I like social networking over the Internet. My favourite is Twitter due to the speed, immediacy and access to people all over the world. Hashtag groups (#writechat, #storycraft, #scriptchat) have been particularly rewarding for finding people with the same interests and concerns. I also keep a presence on Facebook and LinkedIn.
It’s amazing how many others are out there wanting to connect. I have found that writing for an expanded audience (and in a limited space) has loosened up my writing style and made it more interesting and approachable.
Donna and I launched ourselves on this journey to promote our books. “Two Scoops” Is Just Right is a compilation of funny short stories that I first posted on my blog site. It’s the links to these stories that I have pushed out over the Internet.
In pre-Web times, unpublished authors had to keep their manuscripts under their mattresses. What’s the point of that? I write because I want readers. For the first time in history, there are means to disseminate material beyond one’s own community in a relatively easy manner.
Finally, let me say that we are all pioneers in this venture. To our children, it will be taken as commonplace to “build a brand” and “establish a platform.” They will keep in touch with old friends and establish new bonds over the web during the course of their entire lives.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Diana Estigarribia // Jun 5, 2010 at 7:44 am
Great post, Alex.
In the beginning I was not sure what the point was to social media. Then I dove in and discovered this wonderful world of writers, artists, and others. The best thing about social media is how it is fast becoming a tool for engagement. And of course I love the conversations!
2 Art Rosch // Dec 30, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Alex, this helps me a lot. I’m overwhelmed, yet
working on finding my audience. I may refer to your wisdom yet again, very soon.
Best
3 frank lillquist // Dec 24, 2011 at 10:58 am
Hello Alex, I don’t suppose you remember me but there was a time when I beat my head against management to use your work to make the Journal of Commerce and Daily Commercial news THE authority on construction trends in Canada. Much of your output enabled me to write “authoritative” articles that made people think I was much smarter than I am. And sometimes they generated a Sid cartoon as well. Glad to see you are getting the recognition you always deserved. Best, Frank Lillquist